Databases are used in a broad range of computing applications, including point-of-sale systems, management resource planning systems, and many other systems that track items, people, and/or transactions. In some cases, a user “front end” manages the interface to a user with the database contents themselves being hidden from view. In other cases, a database query and viewing application such as SQL-Explorer, Toad, MS Query Analyzer, or DBAccess may be used to select and view a range of records in the database.
A particular view of a database may be called a table, a query window, or a query result.
For many applications and systems, it is convenient to track data through multiple databases rather than a single database. In other applications, it is useful to track data across multiple views, query windows, or tables of one or plural databases. In such applications, there is frequently a logical relationship, including one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-one, between records across the separate tables.
In the prior art, viewing the relationships between records across multiple tables generally involved using a custom user front end, or alternatively opening individual independent queries to select each table. For cases involving running individual queries, query parameters are frequently entered into each query manually. Thus, viewing a range of related records across multiple tables or queries was substantially static, i.e., each new set of conditions would require entering new query parameters into each of a plurality of query windows.
FIG. 1 illustrates a method for performing multiple database queries with a tool such as SQL-Explorer, Toad, or MS Query Analyzer for example, according to the prior art. In step 102, the query tool or database is opened. Next, according to step 104, a table is opened or a query created to select a range of records. A second table is then opened or new query created according to step 106 to view a range of related records. Step 106 is repeated as necessary, as indicated by decision box 108, to open additional sets of related records that are of interest. According to process 110, records are then navigated by manually changing queries for every table.
FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative prior art method for performing multiple database queries in separate work sessions using a tool such as DBAccess. A terminal session is opened according to step 202. The process then proceeds similarly to that illustrated by FIG. 1, with each separate, but simultaneously viewed query being launched in a new terminal emulation window.
FIG. 3 is a screen shot of a query being performed according to the process of FIG. 2. First and second respective terminal windows 302 and 304 each contain a range of field values, 308 and 312 respectively, associated with a query.
An index value 306 inv_id3=I033 entered into window 302 identifies the record of interest in the first query window 302. Similarly, the index value 310 id_id3=1033 identifies the record of interest in the second query window 304. If a second set of related records needs to be viewed, the user would manually enter similar new index values 306 and 310 in each window to change the contents of that query, as indicated by step 110 of FIG. 2. Thus, the two windows are not dynamically related, but rather static, requiring the user to manually change the queries.